What Happened
Storm Boelo blew down a stone wall in a Whitby churchyard, leaving rocks perched on the bonnets of parked cars — and the photos of the aftermath triggered a debate about AI images.
Publican Sue Taylor captured the scene close to Whitby Abbey and posted two pictures to Facebook, as the BBC reported on October 27, 2026.
Dozens of comments on her post said the images had been created or changed using artificial intelligence.
Taylor, 48, runs the Black Horse Pub in the North Yorkshire coastal town. She said she spotted the damage while walking her dog on her normal route. “It was a shocker,” she said.
The permit-only parking spaces involved are used by people living nearby or alongside the landmark 199 Steps route up to the abbey. Taylor said she had never seen winds strong enough to topple a wall overnight in the area.
“I used to live up near the abbey for about 12 and a half years, and although we experienced some strong winds, I’d never seen it be strong enough for a wall to be blown over during the night,” she said.
She took two photographs and posted them without any editing when she got back to her office. “It’s not something that I would ever have considered altering, let alone know where to start,” Taylor said, describing the online doubt from internet sleuths as “a bit ridiculous”.
The BBC said it had viewed independently posted photographs and videos of the same damage and spoken to eyewitnesses who corroborated Taylor’s images.
Prof Theocharis Kyriacou, an AI expert at York St John University, said he could understand some viewers’ scepticism but urged caution, particularly as “real people” had been affected by the incident.
“Some of the rocks appear to have fallen into rather neat or unusual arrangements, which might seem surprising,” he said. “However, we should remember that most of us have probably never witnessed this particular type of structural collapse before. Something looking unusual or unexpected does not necessarily make it artificial.”
Kyriacou added that photos from different sources, independent footage and eyewitness accounts were “more meaningful than individual impressions of what looks real or fake”. He said the Whitby images illustrated a “wider issue” as trust in visual evidence was “eroded”.
“For generations, photographs have been regarded as relatively reliable representations of reality,” he said. “Now, because of the misuse of generative AI, even genuine photographs, are increasingly being questioned. That is a rather sad consequence of what is otherwise a remarkable technological achievement.”
North Yorkshire has already had closer encounters with synthetic media. Earlier this year, Pete Kilbane, the city council’s Labour deputy leader in York, was targeted by AI-generated deepfake images and received police advice to step up security at his home.
The fake video appeared to show him handing cash to men in balaclavas, with an unspecified flag behind him.
Kilbane said he was “shocked” when he first saw it, adding: “This is an attempt to undermine democracy and make legitimate, factual debate impossible.”
The University of York Students’ Union also raised concerns over the software used to submit assignments and check them for plagiarism, amid fears students’ work could be used to train AI tools.
It said planned changes to the Turnitin licence agreement could see student work used to teach AI models.
The university said it would review any changes to the software’s terms and conditions, while a Turnitin spokesperson said its policy would not be updated any earlier than September 2027 to “give us time to discuss any changes with customers”.
Kyriacou cited AI-generated images and video posted during deadly floods in Nepal as a “particularly troubling example” of misuse.
He encouraged people to “question what they encounter online rather than accept everything at face value”, adding: “But there is an important distinction between healthy scepticism and automatically dismissing something as fake simply because it looks extraordinary.”
A spokesperson for English Heritage, which operates Whitby Abbey, said the wall incident had not impacted its operations. A Whitby Abbey Illuminated event was separately cancelled because of the weather over the weekend but resumed afterwards, they added.
The BBC has contacted The Parish of Whitby and Ruswarp, which is responsible for St Mary’s Church, and North Yorkshire Council for comment.
What This Means For You
If you photograph storm damage or any other news event, treat your unedited originals as evidence rather than content. Taylor posted two untouched images and still faced fabrication claims, so keep the full sequence, timestamps and any second angles.
When you are the one doubting a picture, use Kyriacou’s test instead of your gut: check for independent footage, other photographers and eyewitnesses before calling something fake. Rocks landing in a neat pattern is not proof of AI.
If a deepfake targets you, Kilbane’s case shows the practical route — take police advice on home security rather than arguing with the post online.
And if you are a University of York student, watch the Turnitin licence terms, because planned changes could see submitted work used to train AI models with no policy update before September 2027.
Why It Matters
This suggests a quiet shift in how ordinary evidence works. A photo of a fallen wall once settled an argument; now it opens one, even when independent footage and eyewitnesses agree.
That matters most for the unglamorous uses of imagery — insurance claims after a storm, local news tips, heritage groups documenting damage to sites like Whitby Abbey and the 199 Steps.
It also cuts both ways. The same scepticism that wrongly disbelieved Taylor is the scepticism that could catch a genuine deepfake of a politician like Kilbane. Kyriacou’s distinction between healthy doubt and automatic dismissal is the operating rule this story points to.
And the local pattern is telling: a collapsed wall, a faked councillor video and a university plagiarism-tool dispute all landed in the same region within months. Verification is becoming a civic skill, not a specialist one.
Key Takeaway
- Sue Taylor’s two unedited Facebook photos of Storm Boelo damage in Whitby were flagged by dozens of commenters as AI-generated.
- Prof Theocharis Kyriacou of York St John University says unusual-looking scenes are not evidence of fakery, and corroboration beats gut instinct.
- York councillor Pete Kilbane was targeted by an AI deepfake earlier this year, showing the same trust problem in a political setting.
- Turnitin, used by University of York students, will not update its policy earlier than September 2027, its spokesperson said.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did the wall collapse affect Whitby Abbey?
An English Heritage spokesperson said the incident had not impacted its operations. A separate Whitby Abbey Illuminated event was cancelled because of the weather over the weekend and later resumed.
Why did people think Sue Taylor’s photos were fake?
Kyriacou said some rocks appeared to have fallen into “rather neat or unusual arrangements”, which might seem surprising to viewers unfamiliar with this type of structural collapse.
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